With the relatively decent gritty play of Isbister lately and the poor soft play of the Sedins, would be it be absurd to suggest the following line for an experiment:

Isbister - Sedin - Sedin

At least Isbister can throw his body around a bit and doesn't have a terrible shot in close. He has no speed, but neither do the twins. I don't think Naslund, Raymond, or Shannon make any sense. They are not cycle worthy, but work well off the rush.

Lets dump that puck in and punish the top D of the other team. Bring in an extra D man and tire out the opposing teams D men.

Isbister isn't naturally a gritty player ... from time to time he may look ok but for the most part he is relatively invisible ... scouts knock on him has always been he has the skill but isn't all that motivated ...

Sedins have been with us for what 8 years now and we are still looking for a linemate for them ... I think I am tired of hearing that too ...

... the reality is that they gotta just suck it up and dig down if they ever want to be superstars or effective players in the NHL/playoffs ... they have the skill we know that - we've seen it ... I think they just need some good ol' Canadian Heart ... another linemate ... baaahhh ... It's put up or shut up time for them ...

I wouldn't mind seeing our gentle giants play with the Sedins as well. Someone with some size who can plant himself in front of the net to open some room for them and finish off the occasional Sedin garbage. Pyatt has done a good job there at times, but Nasi gets thrown in there alot. At the beginning of the season, I thought Isbister and Cowen would of been good, however their play has been average at best. It's worth a try though, I'd like to see AV give it a couple of games to see how it goes... not just a few shifts.

The Sedins may be having their troubles right now, but they need to drive to the net more often, rather than cycle. They need to reduce the cycling and collapse to the front of the net. Pyatt who has the size and offensive ability to put the puck in the back of the net should always be the Sedin's line mate unless he is injured, the coach cannot commit to this however. If you don't see the flop, you don't have a chance!

Isbister is another oversized player that would twice as effective if he learned how to use it. If you guys remember the St. Louis game in which he scored the winner, when Burrows made that pass he was standing on the opposite side of the net and not in front of Legace. Good thing that Burrows made a helluva of a pass and no one was covering Isbister for him to score that winner. What should've happened however, is once Burrows had enough room to fire the puck, Isbister (who stands as big as Pyatt) should've been in front of Legace or creating havoc in front. He was damn lucky not to have been covered and damn lucky Burrows made that pass.

I want Linden on the Sedins' line, but seeing how he's not even in the lineup that's probably not going to happen soon.

The Sedins have to make the players around them better! Gretzky took Dave "Cement Head" Semenko and turned him into an 30 goal scorer. The Sedins need to do the same with a rugged winger. Pyatt looked good there last year, and Carter the year before.
Since the season is all but a write off AV could try Shannon with Naslund and Kesler.
It would not hurt to call up some of the minor league lads as well, they are always hungry to display that they are ready for the big leagues.

Reverend Smack wrote:The Sedins have to make the players around them better!

It would not hurt to call up some of the minor league lads as well, they are always hungry to display that they are ready for the big leagues.

I'm in. let's call up grabner and hansen and tell them to play their butts off. Hansen would be a great addition to burrows and kesler's line. Grabner can play with shannon, and just hover at the other team's blueline and wait for the break out passes.

btw, did anyone notice that this losing streak was started when mason raymond went down, and then got worse when bmo was reinjured. the canucks are feeling vulnerable, if you ask me...i'm starting a "sign laraque" movement. the canucks need a motherf**r to protect them.